Maamme
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Maamme (Finnish) or Vårt land (Swedish), meaning Our land, is the title of Finland's national anthem.
The music was composed by the German Fredrik Pacius, with (Swedish) words by the Finland-Swede Johan Ludvig Runeberg, and was performed for the first time on 13 May 1848. The original poem, written in 1846 but not printed until 1848, had 11 stanzas and formed the prologue to the great verse cycle The Tales of Ensign Stål ("Fänrik Ståhls Sägner"), a masterpiece of Romantic nationalism.
The Tales of Ensign Stål were much appreciated throughout all of Scandinavia. Up until the time of Finland's independence in 1917–18, when the song began to be recognized as specifically applying to Finland, Pacius's tune and Runeberg's text were often also sung in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Note that in the original Swedish text there is no reference to Finland, only to a country in the north, but the Finnish text explicitly refers to Finland. The poem's theme is, furthermore, remarkably similar to that of the national anthems of Sweden (Du gamla, Du fria) and Norway (Ja, vi elsker dette landet).
Some Finns would now like the Finnish national anthem to be changed to Finlandia by Jean Sibelius (also a Finland-Swede): partly because the original Vårt land was written in Swedish, not Finnish; partly because Pacius's tune is also used for the national anthem of Estonia with a similarly themed text, Mu isamaa, My Fatherland (1869); and partly because Pacius was German. It is also said that he composed the tune in a mere fifteen minutes, with no idea that it would become so important to the people of Finland that they would eventually make it their national anthem. Jean Sibelius is Finland's national composer. Finlandia, however, was written as a purely instrumental piece and is difficult to sing (neverthless it briefly became the national anthem of Biafra). Some people would say that the national anthem of Finland is unlikely to change because of conservative traditions.
Here are the lyrics of the first verse in Finnish, in Swedish (as originally written), and in an English-language version:
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Maamme
(translation by Paavo Cajander)
- Oi maamme, Suomi, synnyinmaa!
- Soi sana kultainen!
- Ei laaksoa, ei kukkulaa,
- ei vettä, rantaa rakkaampaa
- kuin kotimaa tää pohjoinen,
- maa kallis isien.
- Sun kukoistukses kuorestaan
- kerrankin puhkeaa;
- viel' lempemme saa nousemaan
- sun toivos, riemus loistossaan,
- ja kerran laulus, synnyinmaa
- korkeemman kaiun saa.
Vårt land
(the original, by Johan Ludvig Runeberg)
- Vårt land, vårt land, vårt fosterland,
- ljud högt, o dyra ord!
- Ej lyfts en höjd mot himlens rand,
- ej sänks en dal, ej sköljs en strand,
- mer älskad än vår bygd i nord,
- än våra fäders jord!
- Din blomning, sluten än i knopp,
- Skall mogna ur sitt tvång;
- Se, ur vår kärlek skall gå opp
- Ditt ljus, din glans, din fröjd, ditt hopp.
- Och högre klinga skall en gång
- Vår fosterländska sång.
Our Land
(translation by Clement Burbank Shaw)
- Our land, our land, our fatherland,
- Sound loud, O name of worth!
- No mount that meets the heaven's band,
- No hidden vale, no wavewashed strand,
- Is loved, as is our native North,
- Our own forefathers' earth.
- Thy blossom, in the bud laid low,
- Yet ripened shall upspring.
- See! From our love once more shall grow
- Thy light, thy joy, thy hope, thy glow!
- And clearer yet one day shall ring
- The song our land shall sing.
See also
- Flag of Finland
- Holidays in Finland
- Ålänningens sång - the official anthem of Åland
- Du gamla, Du fria - the national anthem of Sweden
External links
- The Finnish National Anthem (http://virtual.finland.fi/finfo/english/maamme.html) - history of the anthem, and RealAudio of the song
- www.national-anthems.net (http://www.national-anthems.net/countries/index.php?id=FI) - mp3, RealAudio and Windows Media files of the anthemcs:Finská hymna
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